• About
  • Who’s Who
  • Contributors

The Write Side of 59

~ This is What Happens When You Begin to Age Out of Middle Age

The Write Side of 59

Category Archives: Travel

Honeymoon Redux: Symi Revisited

24 Monday Oct 2016

Posted by WS50 in Entertainment, Travel

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Anniversary, AnniversarySymi, Greece, honeymoon, Honneymoon, Symi

BBQ. Sesklia Island with Wendy, Stephen, Guido and Anna.

BBQ. Sesklia Island with Wendy, Stephen, Guido and Anna.

BY JULIE SEYLER

Steve and I had a perfect two weeks in Greece for all the usual reasons one loves vacation: we lived a life different than the one we live in. We ate out for every meal; we had a different adventure every day; we saw breathtaking landscapes on an hour to hour basis; and we connected with strangers simply because they were away from home at the same time we were. Sometimes the connection is so easy and familiar, you end up feeling as if you’d been friends with these strangers all of your life.

On the day we refer to as “The Poseidon Adventure”, Steve and I sat down at a picnic table with Wendy and Stephen from England and Guido and Anna from Italy. We drank wine and ate home cooked barbecue and watched the goats and embarked on a lively discussion of the Donald Disaster. These Europeans, as well as every other person we spoke to Greece, were shocked so many Americans find him appealing. After lunch we reboarded the boat for more swimming in the perfect water around the island and at the end of the day email addresses were exchanged. This led to a flurry of emails between Wendy and me on the virtues of Symi. I asked her if she would write a blog for WS50 and she graciously agreed. Our experiences in Symi were different but our feelings were identical: pure love for this magical speck in the Aegean Sea.

This is Wendy’s adventures in Symi.
**************************************************************

BY WENDY ATKINS

stephen-and-wendy

Being romantic types, and appreciating any opportunity for adult-only travel, my husband I embarked on a return trip to the beautiful Dodecanese island of Symi in September this year. We married ten years ago on September 23rd 2006 and spent an idyllic and mainly horizontal ten days there to celebrate the nuptials. Spring clean your suggestive mind, our horizontal posture was caused by nothing more than the sheer exhaustion from organising and taking starring roles in what felt like a view-of-symi-1

Don’t get me wrong, we love our lives in the United Kingdom, but as busy people with multiple occupations, (I am a budding stained glass artist and foster carer, caring, until recently for three teenagers; Stephen is a mooring hand at the port of Dover and a plumber and heating engineer), we value our time alone and Symi is the ideal place to relish that time.

Back in 2006, when my husband Stephen and I travelled on a package tour to Symi, the journey to our honeymoon island was relatively stress free. The easiest route from the UK to the island is by air from London Gatwick airport to Rhodes and then a 90-minute ferry to Symi. On a package tour the worries of transport between airport and port and any difficulties with transport or accommodation are borne by someone else and this is often enticing. However, on this occasion we took the plunge and travelled independently. We are not entirely new to this, having travelled independently extensively throughout Europe and having visited China, Thailand, and the Maldives in recent years.

So this year we booked our own flights, arranged ferry tickets and accommodation on Symi and the trip there was fairly lengthy for a trip within Europe. We flew from London Gatwick airport at 9am and arrived in our Symi penthouse (sic) around 10 hours later, tired from the trip, exhausted by the slog up the steps and hills to our apartment but absolutely elated by the night time view of Yialos (the harbour) from the dizzy heights of Chorio (the village).

img_0579

The next morning we awoke to the reality of Greek accommodation, which is basic to say the least. In the haze of the last ten years we had forgotten about the “no flushing of toilet paper down the loo” rule and the bucket in the shower to water the plants (water being a precious commodity) and the concrete hard bed. However, all that faded when we flung back the blinds and the full beauty of this striking island hit us right between the eyes and we found ourselves in possibly the most stunning place in Greece…..again!

img_0516

We were blessed with ten days on Symi and spent our time exploring far more than we did ten years ago…. Probably because of aforementioned exhaustion and general blissful, loving happiness. Some highlights and absolute must-do’s:

img_0554

Hire a moped – if you have never ridden one, even better. Riding across the island from Yialos, where you may hire one, to Panormitis which is a monastery at the farthest side of the island is an absolute must-do. The hair-pin bends and sheer drops with no railings are a cheaper, longer and far more thrilling ride than any fairground can provide.
For a more `genuine’ Symi experience stay in Chorio, rather than the more touristic Yialos. If you can get past the desire for fluffy towels and turned down bedding in the evening, then living in a `down’ apartment i.e. the room at the bottom of a large Symi village house, then you will experience more of what it is like to live like a local. That said, anyone with mobility difficulties will struggle living in the village with the many hills and steps.

The Poseidon Adventure

The Poseidon Adventure

Take a boat trip around the island early in your trip – you will then see all of the beautiful little coves and beaches and select those that draw you most, to revisit. When selecting your beach do try to visit one with resident goats. No Symi experience is complete until you have grappled with a goat which insists on eating the contents of your beach bag. Take bets on who wins the battle, amongst your fellow beach dwellers, just to increase the fun.

Ride the bus – if you didn’t get enough of a thrill from the moped ride, then the bus will finish you off. On more than one occasion I was working out my exit from a window in the bus, should we actually topple into the harbour. Truly, the width of the road around the harbour barely fits a moped, let alone a bus.

Climb as high as you can, as high as your lungs will carry you, up the Kalli Strata to see the epic views of Chorio, Yialos and Pedi beach. You will not regret it. If you are lucky you will pass Dead Goat Alley, although hopefully the goat will be a thing of the past by then.

img_0537Eat, eat, eat, then eat some more. The food on Symi is a wonder to behold. It is mainly simple and mainly locally caught but it is also mainly fresh and mainly plentiful. It is difficult to recommend a good restaurant because we didn’t manage to find a poor one. From the `posh’ restaurants in the harbour, designed to draw the wealthier yachting clientele, to the takeaway kebab shop on the Kalli Strata in Chorio, we ate like Kings and Queens. We had the most stunning prawn risotto on the beach at Marathounda beach, an amazing Moussaka at Zoe’s Taverna, mouth-watering casseroled calamari and melt in the mouth lamb at the Windmill restaurant in Chorio (well worth a second visit), where we spent our 10th anniversary evening.

So, our ten-year-old and rose tinted view of Symi remains intact after our return visit. The island has hardly changed in that time and for that it is precious indeed. Will we return? We spoke to lots of people who return year on year and sometimes several times a year. We aren’t ruling out a return visit, but the world is such a big place and we are adding places to our bucket list faster than we are crossing them off so….. watch this space….. perhaps we will celebrate our 20th anniversary there. Next time we may need to stay in Yialos, far fewer steps!

What started it all 10 years ago.

What started it all 10 years ago.

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Reddit
  • Email

Like this:

Like Loading...

This is Symi

13 Thursday Oct 2016

Posted by WS50 in Art, Travel

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Greece, Symi

img_0368BY JULIE SEYLER

We have been ensconced in post-vacation reorientation for about a week, having spent 16 days in Greece splitting time between Athens and the islands of Rhodes, Symi, and Kos. I am sorting my 3400-plus photos and reliving the trip. Each place was special, unique, and memorable and I do not want to play favorites, BUT there is something about Symi that is magical, as cliched as it sounds.  I hope these photos provide a smidgen of its charm.

img_0224img_0263img_0335img_0338p1340536p1340514img_0410img_0429

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Reddit
  • Email

Like this:

Like Loading...

Ferry Crossings and Other Updates

05 Wednesday Oct 2016

Posted by WS50 in Travel

≈ 1 Comment

image.jpeg

Best laid plans …

BY JULIE SEYLER

I am a meticulous planner and when it comes to trip planning all is laid out in charts and diagrams and self-made calendars months before we depart. I have friends that recoil at this sensibility because their joy is derived from cobbling together a flight and hotel to Italy in two days, but that’s not me. Half of travel pleasure is figuring out where to go and the other half is the research that goes into making what I think will be the perfect trip.

We debated and volleyed between Cyprus and Greece, and the Dodecanese Islands in Greece topped out. I scavenged my saved travel archives and bought books and read articles online and figured out the islands to visit and the ferry schedules to get there, taking into account beaches and weather and UNESCO World Heritage sights, and in June, three months before we left, I presented the itinerary to Steve:

*JFK to Athens; two-plus days to check out the Acropolis, the museums, Hadrian’s Arch and the Plaka.

*Onto an early morning hour flight to Rhodes to see Old Town and Byzantine fortifications and Anthony Quinn’s beach:quinn.
*Board a ferry to Symi on Sept 26; a ferry to Kalymnos on Oct 1 (for my birthday); a ferry to Kos on Oct 3; and a short flight from Kos to Athens on October 7 and from Athens to JFK on October 8.

Seamless travel! Well-organized by a paramount control freak. And so it was — until the Dodecanese Seaways ferry broke down and we couldn’t seem to get off the island of Symi.

Now truly this is so NOT a hardship because the place is the quintessential epitome of what an island in the Aegean Sea should be.
simi

No traffic, pastel colored homes, turquoise seas, boat taxis, guzzling fresh sardines by the sea …
sardines
…etc. etc. etc.

But when you have soaked it up and know that you need to get to the next island, the best laid plans become a minor mockery.

As we became friends with the booking agents at Symi Tours, we found out on Saturday evening, October 1, that there was no possible way to get to Kalymnos at all, but there would be a ferry from Symi to Kos at 7:30 a.m. on Monday, October 3. Although we were disappointed Kalymnos would be crossed off the danced card, we sallied off to dinner knowing we had one more day in paradise and would still be able to get to Kos Monday morning after a 50-minute ferry ride.

But ferries that run aground have their own schedule because when we went to buy our ticket the next day we learned the ferry from Symi to Kos was the same one as the ferry from Symi to Kalymnos and it was not repaired, and so it was impossible to get to Kos from Symi.

The only way we could move on was to return to Rhodes on the 7 a.m. ferry, arriving at the port at 8:30 and thereafter departing from Rhodes at 4:10 for the five-hour trip to Kos. Oh, and there was no storage at the port in Rhodes, so if we wanted to walkabout the walled fortifications of Old Town Rhodes, we’d be carting 22 kilos of luggage each:

luggage

Hmmm. Not quite what we had in mind.

We went into strategic planning mode. Should we rent a car and drive around? Should we contact our prior hotel and beg to store our luggage for a few hours or should we simply rent a cheap room by the port? Steve found a great deal at City Hotel Venus and there we parked the bags …venus … and off we went to explore the Archaeological Museum of Rhodes, housed in a 15th century hospice and housing artifacts dating from 1500BC. It is a wonderful place to wander between ferry arrivals and departures. Add in some fresh grilled fish and octopus and it turned out to be a mighty fine day as we boarded out ferry to Kos:

ferry

And of course I woke up the next day in Kos and stared out to sea, there was the Dodecanese Pride Superfast ferry back in action. I watched it pull out of the port in Kos. C’est la …

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Reddit
  • Email

Like this:

Like Loading...

Happy Birthday! (Where’s My Ferry?)

01 Saturday Oct 2016

Posted by WS50 in Travel

≈ 3 Comments

img_0111

Eating Symi shrimp in Symi, Greece.

BY JULIE SEYLER

So I am 61.

And entering my seventh decade. (That sounds older than 61.) Steve and I are celebrating in Greece. Game plan was to take the 9:25 ferry from Symi to Kalymnos:

image

We arrived and asked at the closest kiosk: “Where do we board the ferry?”

Answer: “No ferry. Problem with ferry. Go to Symi Tours.”

We followed those directions. And saw this sign:

image

So off we went to Symi Tours, which confirmed that there is NO WAY to get to Kalymnos today. We could go to Rhodes at 4:00 and then maybe there will be a ferry, but nothing could be confirmed or promised.

img_0318

Birthday dilemma.

We could not get back into our room because we were in a private house and locked the door on our way out. We have to find a room!

img_0323

Locked out of the Castello Venetsiana.

New plan: put on our bathing suits and take the water taxi to the beach in Symi, which as of this writing, we remained. And which is hardly a place in which to be bummed out while stranded in:

img_0151

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Reddit
  • Email

Like this:

Like Loading...

Beirut Bound (And Boundless)

16 Tuesday Aug 2016

Posted by Lois DeSocio in Travel

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

"

Maura

BY LOIS DESOCIO

This afternoon, my friend Maura will board a Lufthansa jet bound for Beirut, Lebanon.

“I love you.” “I’ll miss you.” (“Go for it!”) has been written, spoken, texted and sent (accompanied by hugs, kisses, sing-alongs, tequila shots, dining-room dancing, swimming, and wine-soaked feasts), by those of us who were part of her two-month summer send-off.

“What!” “Wow.” “Whoa!” has also been, and continues to be, uttered by many upon hearing of Maura’s decision to spend a year, and possibly two, in what was formerly dubbed the “Paris of the Middle East,” and is now a headline and a five-hour trek away from the war in Syria.

Maura, who will be 57 in November, is heading to the Middle East to teach reading, writing, math, science, and social studies to 4th graders at The American Community School in Beirut. She estimates she is one of eight to 10 new teachers coming to the school, with about 25 percent of the faculty from the United States.

What drew her to Beirut (she also had offers from Guangzhou, China and Doha, Qatar) is that it is “lush, Mediterranean, and old, with so many cultures (55% are Muslim, 5% are Druze, and 40% are Christian) that live together in shaky harmony.”

She plans to ski Lebanon’s snow-capped mountains, wander the “farm-rich plateaus,” swim its gold-sanded beaches, and snorkel over ancient Phoenician shipwrecks. There will be hiking in ancient caves, monasteries and Roman ruins to explore; hummus, fattoush, and shawarma to eat.

And then there’s the kids.

“I anchor myself in all the nuttiness of the move in reminding myself that I love to teach because I really enjoy spending the day around children,” she said.

A recent by survey by The International Educator, a resource for educators who are looking to teach abroad, revealed that middle age is ripe for grabbing that global teaching opportunity, and “some school heads and recruiters are quite eager to hire older candidates with extensive experience and the wisdom that can only come with age.”

Maura’s got just that. Plus she is intrepid, lovely, pragmatic and tough. Since suffering the loss of her husband Lee, who died two years ago from complications stemming from multiple sclerosis, her gearshift has been parked in Forward.

So putting her house up for rent, packing a year of life into three 48-pound suitcases, and trading her 14-year teaching job in an elementary school in small-town New Jersey for an urban-international school in the biggest (and among the world’s oldest) city in Lebanon is not much of a leap.

After all, she scuba dives in Honduras:

Maura scuba

Maura in the middle. With her sons Sean and Cameron.

Powers through 5K mud runs in New Jersey:

Maura Mud 2

Maura hanging. With rings.

And opened up the 2014 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony in Cleveland:

Screen Shot 2016-08-16 at 8.45.18 AM

Maura at the podium. With sequins.

No doubt Maura’s solid middle-age bedrock is fortified by her younger years with Lee. She has him tucked inside; his initial tattooed on her wrist. He’s going with her.

“I want to be strong, she said. “I know I will get lonely and miss everyone madly. But I want to grow as a human. To get out of the familiar way of being and thinking. And being alone and feeling lonely will have to be a part of that. I both accept it and dread it.”

So, I feel I can speak for those of us for whom Maura has been a staple in our every day for years; more sister than friend. One last (albeit tearful) round of: “I love you.” “I’ll miss you.” (“Go for it!”)

Maura back

Maura will be blogging from Beruit. Follow her at Eyes Wide Open, which will go live once she lands.

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Reddit
  • Email

Like this:

Like Loading...

Doors

04 Monday Jan 2016

Posted by WS50 in Art, Photography, Travel

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

doors, Portugal, Tunis

Heavy-duty door.

Heavy-duty door.

BY JULIE SEYLER

In May, 2001, 3 months prior to 9/11, I went to Tunisia for 5 days with a friend. We walked through the souks of Tunis and drove about finding the remnants of the Roman Empire at Dougga. We stayed in a lovely beachside hotel in Sidi Bou Said and toured the Bardo Museum in Carthage. We discussed the anger in the streets. It was not a violent anger- it was a percolating rage fueled by perpetual unemployment and lack of opportunity. I was lucky to visit when I did- Tunisia is a beautiful country with much culture, but its personal gift to me was that I became aware of doors.

From my photo album on Tunisia.

From my photo album on Tunisia.

The guide books pointed out that the doors in Tunisia were unique because of their massiveness, decorativeness and significance of separating the private domestic space from the world outside. So now wherever I travel I remain hyper-attuned to doors, to their size, their locks, their doorhandles, their mail box slots and whatever else catches my eye. It is never perfection, but the texture, shape, form, design and mystery behind these entryways that enchant me.

So as we walk through the door to 2016, let’s be hopeful it opens into a new and safe space.

Stairwell door

Stairwell door

Hand knocker.

Hand knocker.

Little Door

Little Door

Window doors

Window doors

Detail of door.

Detail of door.

 

Door mail slot

Door mail slot

Lisbon train station doors

Lisbon train station doors

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Reddit
  • Email

Like this:

Like Loading...

A Honeymoon in Portugal, Birthday Included

03 Saturday Oct 2015

Posted by WS50 in Travel

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Coimbra, Conimbriga, Porto, Portugal, Viana do Castelo

Fatima. A woman makes a pilgrimage.

Fatima. A woman makes a pilgrimage.

BY JULIE SEYLER

Steve and I arrived in Portugal on Friday September 25 for a delayed honeymoon. Our first night we stayed in the Palacio Hotel do Bucaco, set in a fairy tale forest known as the Mata National Park. The hotel is a gingerbread confection, a little seedy at the edges, but so extreme and over the top, the peeling paint was insignificant. The ceilings were 20 feet high, a life-sized sculpture of a lute-player sat on the fireplace mantle, and the 18th century chairs were carved with the most detailed renderings of the Hindu god Ganesha. The gardens were bucolic and the trails easy to explore, where I found not Swan Lake, but a little carp filled pond inhabited by two graceful swans.

Busaco Palace. Mata National Park. 9.25.15

Busaco Palace. Mata National Park. 9.25.15.

The next day we drove to Conimbriga for a stroll through Roman ruins — the best on the Iberian Peninsula. There were some great mosaics and the remnants of ancient baths, but it did take some imagination to visualize the city that thrived about 2000 years ago.

Mosaic floor from Conimbriga. Circa 2nd c.

Mosaic floor from Conimbriga. Circa 2nd c.

Having gotten our fill of the days of Augustus, we headed into Coimbra — renowned for its university and its bibliotheca.  It contains over 300,000 ancient books. We also ate sardines because one does not come to Portugal without eating sardines. No mayo required.

Sardines in Coimbra.

Sardines in Coimbra.

We then drove up to Viana do Castelo for the purpose of going to a beach. The beach excursion was tanked due to illogical planning, and so we focused on the view and meandered through the port and the old town.

Sunrise view from the pousada in Viana do Castelo.

Sunrise view from the pousada in Viana do Castelo.

Time for Porto, but since port is way too sweet to drink as a cocktail, we did not do much port tasting. The old city is vibrant and hectic and loaded with things to see. Amidst the sardines and octopus, we saw the Church of Saint Francis, baroque, ornate, dazzling, the Se, the art galleries and the gardens and basically absorbed the feeling of the city. It’s fantastic to take in the old houses, adorned with faded ceramic tiles, even if some of them are a bit run down.

Then I turned 60!

Tasting Moscatel in Favaios on our way to the Alto Douro

Tasting Moscatel in Favaios on our way to the Alto Douro.

We celebrated me all day!

image

The GPS was set for Casal de Loivois, a village of three lanes, set amidst a landscape of terraced vineyards high above the Rio Douro in the Alto Douro.

Boat ride up the Rio Douro.

Boat ride up the Rio Douro.

View from terrace of hotel in Casal de Loivois in the Alto Douro

View from terrace of hotel in Casal de Loivois.

We left the Alto Douro on Saturday and stopped at the hilltop village of Monsanto (NO relation to the chemical company) to eat lunch and climb the ruins of the old castle.

image

We are now spending a few nights in the hilltop fortress village of Marvao with roots dating back to the Roman era and a fortified castle wall from about 1200 that’s still climbable. The town, which has the narrowest of cobbled streets, is hosting a festival very reminiscent of a New York City street fair — vendors of hand-made jewelry, roast pork sandwiches, and throngs of people.  Albeit there’s also music and dance. It made driving in a bit nutty as we dodged the pedestrians that shared the street. And the rains are about to come. In fact they arrived with gusto. So here’s to spending a few days of vacation in a downpour. Bring on the vinho verde and a game of chess.

Cloudy morning in Marvao

Cloudy morning in Marvao.

And one last vacation thought — here’s to all the sleeping cats in Portugal and New York City and those who care for them when their owners are in absentia! Obrigada!

Sleeping NYC kitty

Sleeping New York City kitty.

Sleeping cat in Portugal

Sleeping cat in Portugal.

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Reddit
  • Email

Like this:

Like Loading...

Detroit was a Hit!

06 Monday Jul 2015

Posted by WS50 in Art, Entertainment, Travel

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Clifford Bell's. Coney Island Hot Dogs, Detroit, Detroit institute of Art, Diego Rivera, Guardian Building, Penobscot Building, Slo's Barbecue

Hitsville USA Detroit. 2.28.15

Hitsville USA Detroit. 2.28.15

BY JULIE SEYLER

Exactly four months before the wedding day, Lois and I boarded a plane to Detroit, Michigan. Despite being repeatedly peppered with “Who goes to Detroit?” and “Why go to Detroit?” and “You are going to Detroit, in the dead of winter? We never wavered. Detroit beckoned.

We knew this was the perfect trip, and I say this even though we were stranded in the Detroit airport for 8 hours and ended up having to overnight, un-comped, at the Westin Hotel due to a nor’easter. No matter, we went swimming in our underwear while the storm raged on.

After a swim at the Westin at the Detroit Airport. 3.1.15

After a swim at the Westin at the Detroit Airport. 3.1.15

And we met lots of interesting people because endless hours at an airport leads to bonding amongst strangers. But prior thereto, Detroit packed a wallop.

There is so much to see and do. Saturday morning we had a Coney Island Chili Dog at American Coney Island.

Breakfast of champions.

Breakfast of champions.

The waiter had no idea that there was an actual place called Coney Island which put hot dogs on the map.

We walked down Woodward Avenue studded with grand old 19th century churches past the stadium that houses the Detroit Tigers and into the The Detroit Institute of Arts. A keen kin to the National Gallery of Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I discovered Pieter Brueghel the Elder’s “The Wedding Dance,” painted in 1566. It was a harbinger of my June nuptials and screamed a wedding is a party where lust and love are offered and accepted in the most bawdy of fashion.

The Wedding Dance. 1566

The Wedding Dance. 1566

We also got a chance to see Diego Rivera’s Detroit Industry murals. They were a motivating reason to come to Detroit because the murals he had planned for Rockefeller Center were felled by public outcry. But in Detroit, we had an opportunity to see the intact in situ Detroit Industry murals, a visual panorama of the pros and cons of industry, where both management and workers are represented.

Detroit Industry

P1300030

After a delicious lunch and a thorough scouring of the museum shop, we taxied over to the house where Berry Gordy founded Motown.

 

 

I found the Motown tour a little thin, but it was totally cool to see the recording studio where the Temptations, Supremes, Four Tops, Stevie Wonder etc. congregated and made gold records.

We had cocktail hour at a 1930’s speakeasy — Cliff Bell’s — and barbecue at Slow’s. And defnitely one needs an Uber app to trek around Detroit at night.

On Sunday, we were heading out at 12:00 for our 2:00 flight back to Newark, but we had heard that the Guardian Building is a must see architectural gem. It’s one of many skyscrapers that epitomize Detroit’s status as a leader of commerce and instury at the beginning of the 20th century. It’s where the automobile was born.

The Guardian was built by Wirt C. Rowland and its purpose was to celebrate the world of finance. It’s open for viewing every day and it’s free. It was worth the trip to Detroit. And for those who stand in awe of the Chrysler building, which is fabulous, the Guardian Building has a bit more over the top deco-ishness.

Interior of the Guardian Building.

Interior of the Guardian Building.

One of 5 remaining original Tiffany clocks inside the Guardian Building.

One of 5 remaining original Tiffany clocks inside the Guardian Building.

We capped the morning with scrambled eggs and bloodies at The Dime Store and were on our way to the airport right on schedule where the weather intervened.

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Reddit
  • Email

Like this:

Like Loading...

Time for Vacation

27 Friday Feb 2015

Posted by WS50 in Travel

≈ 2 Comments

DetroitWe have suffered through February, and as a special treat we decided we deserved a short holiday. And so, we are off this afternoon to a cultural mecca on the shores of a beautiful lake. There’s art, booze, barbecue and Motown. Here we come, Detroit.

Lois and Julie

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Reddit
  • Email

Like this:

Like Loading...

A Church-Loving Tourist: This Time in Paris

05 Thursday Feb 2015

Posted by WS50 in Art, Travel

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Art, churches, Notre Dame, Paris, Ste. Germain des Pres, Ste. Suplice, The Write Side of 50, Travel

North facade of Notre Dame Cathedral. Late afternoon .

North facade of Notre Dame Cathedral. Late afternoon.

BY JULIE SEYLER

Wherever I go, churches are on the top of my to-see list. They offer up beauty (free), in peaceful and spirital surroundings. Usually there is silence.

Eglise de Sainte-Germaine des Pres.

Eglise de Sainte-Germaine des Pres.

I am not incognizant that these temples to God were built by the David Kochs of the medieval world on the backs of the anguished. But the politics and sociology must be weighed alongside the art.

Yes, the subject matter is one note: the life of Jesus Christ, his journey from birth to death, his apostles and the prophets, sinners and saints that bring life to the Old and New Testaments. But they have been painted and sculpted by the greatest artists of all time — Michelangelo, Caravaggio, Donatello. And they are in situ, placed in niches and on walls in the exact same space and place as when made and hung.

Statue of the Virgin, 13th c. Ste. Germaine des Pres

Statue of the Virgin, 13th c. Ste. Germaine des Pres.

Churches are also more than repositories of religious history. The floors, the pews. The altars and flying buttresses. The steeples. The stained glass windows. The gargoyles tell us what the world used to be like; what people used to believe. And hat they were afraid of, what they strived for, and it’s not far from what we seek today.

The Church was also the social media center from let’s say the 13th century through to the 19th century. Whatever. There is always somehting to look at, and always more to see. These are some of the churches I visited when I was in Paris last October:

Ste. Suplice Church on Rue Ste. Surplice, 6th arrondisement.

Admiring the view

Admiring the view.

Noticing the mid-afternoon light.

Noticing the mid-afternoon light.

The windows are huge.

The windows are huge.

What the windows look outside. Exterior of Saint Germain des Pres.

What the windows look outside. Exterior of Saint Germain des Pres.

Ste. Etienne-du-Mont.

Check out the detail on the staircase.

Check out the detail on the mahogany staircase.

Statue and window.

Statue and window.

Notre Dame

Stained glass window,

Stained glass window,

Gargoyles

Gargoyles

Montmarte

Looking up at Montmartre.

Looking up at Montmartre.

Looking at Montmartre from the Musee D'Orsay.

Looking at Montmartre from the Musee D’Orsay.

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Reddit
  • Email

Like this:

Like Loading...
← Older posts

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 294 other subscribers

Twitter Updates

  • @lisamurkowski PLEASE PLEASE commit to NOT voting for her on the Senate floor. 6 years ago
  • Diane Feinstein "How could we possibly conclude that [Sessions] will be independent?” nyti.ms/2jReX6q 6 years ago
  • Check out these beautiful earring trees at etsy.com/shop/TheNestin… https://t.co/QZMGsBu4MU 7 years ago
  • It's the little things that keep the wrecking ball at bay. thewritesideof50.com/2014/11/17/the… 8 years ago
  • Nothing like a soulful pair of eyes. Check out thewritesideof50.com 8 years ago

Recent Posts

  • The Saturday Blog: Rooftops India
  • The Saturday Blog: The Heavy Duty Door
  • Marisa Merz at the Met Breuer
  • The Sunday Blog: Center Stage
  • The Saturday Blog: Courtyard, Pondicherry, India.

Archives

  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012

Categories

  • Art
  • Concepts
  • Confessional
  • Earrings; Sale
  • Entertainment
  • Film Noir
  • Food
  • Memoriam
  • Men
  • Movies
  • News
  • Opinion
  • Photography
  • politics
  • September 11
  • Travel
  • Words

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.com

The Write Side of 50

The Write Side of 50

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 294 other subscribers

Blog at WordPress.com.

  • Follow Following
    • The Write Side of 59
    • Join 294 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • The Write Side of 59
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...
 

    %d bloggers like this: